Le Pen’s Lifeline Forces 29-Year-Old Heir to Wait for His Moment

At a December lunch in Paris, one senior executive approached the young and charismatic president of the far right National Rally and pulled him aside.

President Emmanuel Macron had just installed his fourth prime minister of the year, offering a degree of reassurance for investors in France, but the executive was enthusiastic about the prospects for the nationalists, according to a person who was present. He told Jordan Bardella, long seen as the heir apparent to far-right leader Marine Le Pen, that he was the best placed to unify the French right and forge a new majority to succeed Macron.